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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Merrimack Silences Stonehill 70-63 for First NE10 Win

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.- The Merrimack men’s basketball team topped Stonehill for the first time since February 23, 2008. The Warriors posted a 70-63 victory over the Skyhawks Tuesday evening at Volpe Gym. Merrimack raises its record to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the Northeast-10 Conference. Stonehill sinks to 3-1 on the year and 1-1 in the league with the loss.

Merrimack jumped out to an early lead 10-4 after just three minutes of play. Throughout the first half, Stonehill inched closer to the Warriors and took a 32-30 lead just before the break. Mency paced all scorers with 10 at intermission while Strothers added eight.

The Warriors came out of the half with motivation to win the game. Merrimack shot 57% from the field in the second stanza and grabbed four more rebounds than the Skyhawks. The home team’s largest lead of the night reached 12 points on a layup by Strothers with less than four minutes to play in the game.

With 11 ticks left on the clock, Strothers put the finishing touches on the win. Mack corralled a rebound and threw it ahead to Strothers on a fast break. The junior went air-bound and jammed it in to seal the deal.

“A lot of positives came out of tonight’s game. Out-rebounding them was one of our main goals tonight and that helped us win,” said head coach Bert Hammel.

The Blue and Gold are idle this weekend and will resume Northeast-10 play December 1 as it hits the road to take on Franklin Pierce.